About Mae

Mae Lu is a Canada-born, So-Cal-raised Asian American 30 Something, living a dream with her hubby & dog in the magical kingdom of Hawaii.

This red-lipstick aficionado designs websites for a living and runs a fledgling lifestyle YouTube Channel in her spare time. On the weekends, if she's not filming, you can find her behind the lens of her Sony A6000, shooting scenery in Hawaii, hiking the hills and ridges of her beloved island home, or chasing the perfect sunset.

Why "thereafterish."? Because "and they lived happily ever thereafter" is just half of every story, and this is mine.

Room Tour

Room tours and apartment/home tours are all this big thing on YouTube. I thought, why not show you a little bit more about my life, including welcoming y’alls into my home.

{ My Life in Pictures: My Tour Mah Boudoir! }

{ Oh, Hai! Welcome to my room! }

{ This stitching picture was a wedding present from a dear friend. It hangs on the small wall facing our door and greets me when I come in my room. Two nerds, together forever. }

{ What you see when you walk in. Our first “grown up” bed… }

This is the first full view of our bedroom from the door. This is our first “grown up bed”… our first bed was an Ikea hand-me-down. It didn’t have a headboard. It was white. We appreciated being able to sleep without splashing out for a bed, and we were grateful to our relatives for the gift. Of course, since we moved here without a bed, we needed to get one anyway, but as 30 Somethings, we thought it was finally time to upgrade to a real adult bed and migrate out of the whole Dormroom Chic decor look.

As people who are rather lazy when it comes to style (function is key in our home), we opt for easy beddings instead of super sick stylish ones I lust after in magazines. We don’t need to undress and re-dress the bed with 5,000 decorative pillows. Two each suffice. Each pillow should serve a function, instead of gathering dust on the bed or on the floor just to make a pretty picture. I end up using his extra pillow for support. He’s a blanket hog, and I’m a pillow whore. It’s all about balance.

The orange picture is by one of our favorite designers, Aaron Draplin, and this limited edition print is every logo he’d ever designed up through mid 2009. He’s one of the most brilliant designers I’ve ever heard of/seen–he makes fonts for his logos by hand!

The blue print above our bed is actually symbolic in a couple of ways:

The Na Pali coast on northwest Kaua‘i is where Husby and I hiked a perilous, painful 9 mile hike and got engaged at the 7th mile on August 27, 2008. Almost a year later to the day, we got married in a castle in my homeland (Canada).

This particular print was created by a local designer, Nick, based out of Ewa Beach. You can buy this print along with many other lovely prints in his Etsy Store Everything is Jake. Support Local.

We love how the aqua blue ties in with our desired design palette of grey neutrals plus pops of yellow, blue, green and orange.

{ By Draplin Design Company. Every logo designed by Aaron Draplin through May 2009. }

{ Where we got engaged during a particularly terrifying hike in 2008. Husby popped the question at mile 7 above Hanakapi‘ai Beach. }

{ MY side. So cluttered. Ottoman with tray as side table. Functional and fun. }

{ Small pops of color, like this yellow tray from Target and this ocean candle bring energy to our otherwise neutral room. I keep lipbalms and antiaging treatments in the JewelMint box to apply before bed. }

{ His side. Michigan love and his Nintendo DS. }

{ We got married in the X-Men castle. NERDS!!! Photos from the happy day. }

{ From when he was too sick to touch me. Kisses and hugs. }

{ Waiting for my kisses and hugs. }

So, in case you were wondering, those Post-Its on the headboard aren’t just some random notes or clutter. During the time these photos were taken, Husby had been suffering from Shingles. Given that I have lupus and that I am extremely susceptible to sickness, my doctor and his doctor advised we severely limit contact until the illness subsided. Separate beds, separate rooms, no touching, different laundry baskets, etc. Since this meant no Snuggles and no smoochies, N came up with a system of showing his affection using different colored Post-Its. Blue = Kiss. Green = Hug. He would stick them on a wall or somewhere random for me to find and I collected them above my bed to remind me how much he loves me before I went to sleep… ALONE. So cute. I still have the Post-Its in the JewelMint box next to my side of the bed.

We have very little counter space, so I tend to just toss all my jewelry in cups and containers in a huge jumble on top of our dresser in the corner. The dresser is too tall to see much, and as such, is not the most ideal place to store jewelry, since you wear what you can see. I bought the gold leaf hook thingy on the wall from UO on clearance and so far, it’s helped me wear chains and necklaces I forgot I had after they no longer hid in the bottom of a cup.

I would ideally love to fill this wall with a mosaic/patchwork of different quirky and adorable prints I find here and there. But finding the right frames is a project.

{ Playing with a flower pouf I intend to hang one day — it’s been sitting on the floor for THREE months. }

As with everything else in my house, the decor of my space is far from ideal, but right now it works. Budget, time and lack of style constrains me. Right now, this is the most decorated of a bedroom I’ve ever had. Eventually, it’ll come together. But why not show you what it is now instead of waiting til it’s finished… it’ll probably never be finished. Like myself, my style, my room and my house are all works-in-progress.

Did you enjoy this room tour? One day, I’d like to show you the rest of our home.

You might also like

About Mae

Mae Lu is a Canada-born, So-Cal-raised Asian American 30 Something, living a dream with her hubby & dog in the magical kingdom of Hawaii.

This red-lipstick aficionado designs websites for a living and runs a fledgling lifestyle YouTube Channel in her spare time. On the weekends, if she's not filming, you can find her behind the lens of her Sony A6000, shooting scenery in Hawaii, hiking the hills and ridges of her beloved island home, or chasing the perfect sunset.

Why "thereafterish."? Because "and they lived happily ever thereafter" is just half of every story, and this is mine.